The Delhi HC issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in former Religare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh’s bail plea. The Court asked the ED to respond to the bail plea in the money laundering case at Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL). The case in hand is Shivinder Mohan Singh vs. Directorate of Enforcement.
Facts of the Case
The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police registered an FIR on a complaint by RFL. The complaint was filed against Shivinder Singh, his brother Malvinder Singh and others in the Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering.
In January, the ED had filed a charge sheet before the Court against promoter Malvinder Mohan Singh, Shivinder Singh, and former CMD of RFL Sunil Godhwani. The case was related to the alleged misappropriation of funds at RFL.
RFL accused the brothers of siphoning and side-tracking loans by the company. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Shivinder Singh on December 12, 2019. He was remanded to 14 days’ custody.
The ED informed the Court about enough evidence to initiate the proceedings. The three accused were charged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Shivinder Singh is going under judicial custody.
Shivinder approached the HC after the Trial Court dismissed his bail plea. The grounds were that he had utilized the proceeds of crime. The various acts related to the advancement of unsecured loans have also come into the light during the investigation.
Petitioner’s Submissions
Senior Advocate Hariharan represented Shivinder Mohan Singh. He argued that all the evidence about the case is documentary in nature. There were no allegations about evidence tampering against the Petitioner.
He further claimed that the period in question was from 2008 to 2016. He contended that ED had filed the charge sheet about ₹300 crores. While the alleged misappropriated amount is ₹2,300 crores.
He remarked that there was still ambiguity with regards to the remaining ₹2,000 crores. He contended that judicial custody of Shivinder could not go on the presumption that the investigation would end with an adverse finding.
Inter alia, the petitioner also pointed out that the HC recently released in bail one of the accused in the Delhi Police case i.e. Anil Saxena.
Respondent’s Submissions
Standing Counsel Amit Mahajan represented the Enforcement Directorate. He submitted that the money was diverted through a complex web of transactions. It is not easy to find the trail of the money.
He stated that releasing Shivinder on bail would hamper the further investigation. In light of this, he added that the Trial Court had refused to grant bail to Shivinder after passing a very detailed order. Further, he sought time to file a detailed reply to the bail application.
Court’s Decision
A single-judge bench of Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani conducted the hearing through video conferencing. He issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on the bail plea. The Court granted the Enforcement Directorate time to file its status report.
The Court listed the matter for further hearing on July 2, 2020.
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